Does the digital divide exist in your school? Or have you seen instances where the digital divide has affected kids that you know? Please explain. Were any attempts made to remedy the problem? What accommodations were made?
One of the real pros of working where I do is the awesome student – computer ratio. There are more computers in our building than students, and every classroom has a PC available for each student in it. We are fortunate in this regard, not so much because our administration loves the web and all that it has to offer, but because our founders had the foresight to develop a specialized computer fluency program to help address the varied and often multiple skill deficiencies faced by our students. The fact that that program remains chained in a DOS environment (yep, that’s right I said DOS) did not prevent us from installing Windows operating systems on all of these systems. Perhaps more importantly, because of the requirement that all students complete twice daily computer fluencies in various subjects, we require all parents (by contract) to maintain a fully functional computer system at home. We’ve even been known to supply the systems and the occasional home visit for technical support. So, as far as technology goes, we do a pretty good job of preventing a divide in access.
But the divide still exists. This became clear to me as I read the article “Digital Divide Within” from edutopia.org. Even in our small, computer-plentiful school, there are huge differences in the extent and methodology of their use among teachers. For my own part, I am just beginning to get a real grasp of what is available to me and my students on line. And I am probably one of the staff that incorporates computer literacies (beyond the use of the word processor for writing) most regularly. I am sure that the students from my Research Skills class and my Current Issues class are more genuinely computer literate than some of their counterparts due to activities that I have included in their curriculum.
To their credit, the administration has attempted to make a push in this direction. Several of our head staff have taken technology courses similar to the one I am in now. Our annual summer training week had several days devoted to the investigation of internet resources of varied types that were then shared as a faculty to encourage use. We have installed overhead projectors and smartboards in our larger classrooms and teachers can request their courses be scheduled in those rooms based on need for access.
But none of these efforts are a guarantee that all staff will incorporate the technology equally. This, I think, will take time. We might not see real change until the present generation of college grads take over our classrooms.
What instructional strategies and approaches promote technology integration while addressing the participation gap (where low income and minority students have not had the same opportunities as their more affluent peers to use new technologies for learning)?
Where to begin….. I think that inquiry based learning strategies in general promote the integration of technology (not to mention critical thinking skills and the ability for students to construct their own knowledge base). They are part of the general model of ‘best practice’ methods AND work nicely as an instructional model that incorporates critical technological literacies through the use of webquests, wikis, and such.
I also see great benefits in using free / open-source products to provide those opportunities. Using free resources is a great way for educators in low-income districts to provide access for students in the classroom. Further, programs like Blogger, Google Docs, and Diigo can be great tools not only in the classroom, but can also be accessed via the internet at home by individual students. At present, Google seems to have the most to offer in this respect.
I ran across some great online resources in the online text reading “Teaching with the Internet K-12: New Literacies for New Times.” Authors Leu, Leu, and Coiro listed a whole host of resources for students with varied disabilities. Among them are programs like ReadPlease, a free text reader and the OKAPI Readability Statistics Tool to assess the reading level of a given website. Visit their online text for more information. I have already compiled a personalized grouping of their most relevant resources for my particular learning environment.
What responsibility do you have, as an educator, to bring informating (learning) technology experiences into your classroom?
It’s simple…I must. I think we all must at this point if we are hoping to prepare our students for the world that will face them upon graduation. Taking this general goal first, I found the YouTube production “What Does the Digital Divide Mean to You” by the group Internetforeveryone.org pretty compelling. I hadn’t thought of the need in quite such specific terms before, but the authors of the video point out that many basic public resources are primarily online today. For example, applications for jobs and government services are online. Access to information that voters need for effective decision-making is primarily online. I, personally, don’t think I could have lived without access to MapQuest before buying my GPS for navigation. I actually instruct students in the use of the internet to locate community resources, determine their address, and MapQuest directions to get there. These are critical skills.
Secondly, as a social studies teacher, I am often awed by the amount of information that is available any time, any place on the internet for research activities. I often try to relay this awe to my students, but their hyper-connected life experience prevents them from even imagining what life was like before the internet. Given the potential to access so much information so easily, I must incorporate technology skills into my classroom. Whether I’m looking to teach my students to find the nearest restaurant, solve a real social issue, or something in between, these experiences must be a standard part of my curriculum for teaching today’s generation.
I am extremely jealous that all of your students have access to a computer. It is amazing to think about all of the opportunities teachers in your school have! Like your school system, there is definitely a digital divide in my school system. I honestly never thought about the impact that can have on the students until reading all of the literature Vanessa provided us with. Luckily, my district has continued to provide teachers with many professional development opportunities revolving around different ways teachers can integrate technology into the classroom; however, like you mentioned, there really is no accountability for the teachers and that is what helps creates the digital divide. I wonder how we can stress the importance of incorporating technology into the classroom to our co-workers.
ReplyDeleteChauce,
ReplyDeleteSince you work with a population with Special Needs like myself, what were your thoughts about the Digital Divide also affecting students according to varying ability levels? While it would seem that students, no matter what their learning needs are all take to computers fairly easily, this raised a point that I never even thought of - those students with various learning disabilities or disabilities that affect learning can be at a disadvantage. I was just wondering what your thoughts about that are and if there's anything you do/have seen others do to help bridge the gap in this area.
Thanks!